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Bureaucrat Destroys Wetlands in Order to Save Them

Joe Remenar found the ideal spot to retire. After a long career in law enforcement, he bought three and a half acres near Blaine, Wash., which included a nice home and a little room to enjoy nature.

Just a few miles from picturesque Semiahmoo Bay and even closer to the Canadian border, the Pacific Northwest property seemed the perfect fit. "The family really fell in love with the place, as I did,” Remenar said.

Since much of his land was nothing but an empty field, Remenar wanted to improve the environment. Three years back, he constructed a small, kidney-shaped pond, being careful not to interrupt the flow of a stream or remove any trees or bushes. The water feature immediately attracted blue herons, nesting geese and even bald eagles, in addition to snakes, frogs and other local wildlife.

In January, he decided to build a small shed near the pond but first contacted Whatcom County's Planning and Development Services to make sure everything was up to code. "I wanted to do the right thing," Remenar said, but ended up creating nothing but problems for himself.

Whatcom County Senior Planner Lyn Morgan-Hill surprised Remenar with the information that his property had been designated a wetland. Not only was the shed disapproved, Joe had to fill-in the pond and hire an official wetlands consultant to tell him exactly how to do it.

Remenar pled with Morgan-Hill, telling her about all the birds that use the pond. She warned that the county is concerned with bird flu. He told her of the reptiles using it as a habitat. The county is concerned with invasive bullfrogs. All Remenar’s pleas for understanding were met with intimidation. “That's when I realized that the county wasn't here to help me,” he said.

Since no one from the planning department would visit his property, Remenar contacted a county-approved wetlands expert who recommended that Whatcom County let him keep the pond. He talked to the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, which found no violations and reported that his pond was “a clear and obvious wildlife enhancement project.” Remenar even hired a lawyer to preserve his common sense environmentalism.

But none of this has mattered to the central planners of Whatcom County. He didn’t file the right paperwork three years ago so the wetlands must be destroyed.

As I've documented in previous posts, the organized environmental left is marshalling forces to oppose Powder River Basin (PRB) coal exports to Asia via ports in the Pacific Northwest. Despite their best efforts at fear mongering about supposed environmental effects, local officials are beginning to push back against the prevailing narrative. Realizing that the opposition is based on faulty premises, and realizing the potential economic impact, several local officials are beginning to come out of the woodwork to support this idea.

For the past several years, coal industry officials have been attempting to secure approval to ship coal from Pacific Northwest ports to expanding markets in Asia. This would entail approval to increase rail shipments from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana to new or greatly expanded terminals in Washington and Oregon.

Hallie Kuperman loves to dance. But what she loves even more is sharing this passion with visitors to her social dancing club, the Century Ballroom.Hallie purchased the vintage dancing space 16 years ago, turning it into a Seattle institution. The Century Ballroom not only teaches swing, tango and the foxtrot, it also hosts cabarets and other live performances for an eclectic crowd of all ages. The club’s trendsetting owner has become a prominent and beloved figure in the community.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we're still a nation desperately in need of jobs and revenue, right?A new study commissioned by supporters of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline says Nebraska could reap close to $2 billion in economic benefits if the project were built.

The scene opens; the air is thick with toxic smog, and those few who dare to venture outside the safety of their ventilated homes sway, their lungs battered by the noxious chemicals poisoning the air. Such a scene is straight out of an apocalyptic B-movie.

Environmentalists have demonized hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) from New York to California; one would think that the process which extracts natural gas from underground shale formations morphs water sources into toxic dumps. Yet that sentiment could not be further from the truth.

Rising oil prices, unrest in the Middle East, and a fragile economy are all worrisome subjects to many Americans. Despite President Obama’s rhetoric about energy independence, reducing pain at the pump, and creating American jobs, the EPA is unleashing a host of strict, new regulations.

West coast cool, steady electricity, clean beaches, and Jeeps cruising down Pacific Coast Highway ; is it all just California dreamin’? The potential for reliable energy in the Golden State along with clean beaches and palm trees exists, by allowing hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas.